Tag Archives: sydney portrait photographer

From your side of the firewall, it might look like things have been pretty quiet here at vividity. Well…. I must admit, I have been enjoying a slightly slower pace in my ‘baby’ boy’s last year before school. It hasn’t all been paper aeroplanes and lego, though! I’ve been beavering away on behind the scenes kind of stuff, getting ready for things to take off in my Sydney-based portrait photography business once my boy is settled into school next year.

One thing I have done is revamp my product range. I’ve improved and simplified, making things much better, tighter, more cohesive. One new “product” I’m considering is a “bestie session”, and I’d love some feedback on it. To that end, I’m calling for models. Here’s what I’ve got in mind:

BFF Session:

up to 4 friends for a photo session where we would get group photos and individual portraits

20 gift prints to share between you

8 mini concertina albums (all the same design). That’s two for each of you, one to keep and one to give away to your grandparents, your boy/girlfriend, your mum…. whoever you like, really.

20% off any additional purchases.

That’s over $1800 value, but I would only charge $1000…. so across four of you, that’s only $250 each! And for the first group of BFFs to book in, I’ll do it for half that again ($500), only $125 each assuming there are four of you. Now there’s a bargain!

It’s first come first served, so phone your friends, and then one of you phone me lickety-split to organise your session. (Click “contact me” at the top of the blog for my phone number.)

These sessions suit BFFs of any age. You might be as young and gorgeous as these guys:

Or as grown up and beautiful as these:

Or you might be in your retirement!

And…. a little treat for those of you who have read this far…. I’ll let you in on why I think a bestie session is a good idea: Here’s one of the best photos I have of me and my three best friends together. I’m the one second from the left, with baby number two almost ready to be born.

Not the best image, is it? Wish I could do it over with a professional!

You might have noticed I’ve been MIA. That’s “missing in action”, folks. It’s been crazy here, and will be for a little bit longer yet…. so if you’re talking to me and I start trying to photoshop spots off your face, or retouch a crumb from the corner of your mouth, would you please give me a swift slap and tell me to stop?

Thank you.

Still, there’s some fun to be had…. like the fun I had with this little guy. How could you not? Look at that face!

His mum and dad were great fun, too. The kind of people I love to just hang out with: relaxed, easy-going, and up for a good chat. I hope you like this sneak peek, guys.

Meet the gorgeous Millie. Only weeks old and already the leader of the pack at her house! I’ll introduce you to her people soon. Meanwhile, enjoy this little black bundle of shoe-chewing, mischief-making fur.

I love this job! It’s like being Santa. I get to deliver beautiful goodies like this:

And here are some of the layouts inside:

I had the opportunity to photograph this baptism a while ago, but I’ve held off on blogging about the shoot until I had delivered the album. Can’t spoil the fun for my clients! I’m thrilled to bits with how this turned out. Such a great quality album, all hand stitched, and they did a fabulous job with printing the cover. So lovely! I can’t wait to do some more of these. Such a great way to display your images and be able to pass them on to your kids when they’re all grown up.

Apologies for the blur over the name on the cover. I promise all my clients that I won’t use their names (unless they ask me to!)…. I guess it’s just in-grained after years in the academic world where research participants’ names were protected more than Fort Knox. I don’t mention my own family members’ names here, either. I know it’s pretty much the done thing amongst photographers and other blog authors to talk about their children and call them by name. And I understand the warm-fuzzy feeling that’s generated for readers by sharing that level of detail. I feel like I really know some of the authors of blogs I stalk… er… read, because I am privy to all sorts of details about their lives. But I just can’t bring myself to do the same. I don’t know what my children and husband will be doing years from now. Imagine if my daughter one day becomes Prime Minister. (Good Lord! Imagine!) She probably wouldn’t want photos of her in the nicky-noo plastered all over the cover of Woman’s Day! So, I choose not to identify her by name here. You’ll see my children and husband called all sorts of things on this blog, but never by their names.

What do you think about that? I’d be interested to know how you (other blog authors) handle this decision, and why you choose to do what you do. And I’d love to hear from my readers and clients what they think about the lack of names here.

I’ve made a pact. With Kara Elmore. Those of you who know me well, know that I don’t make promises lightly, and once made, I do my best to keep them. Well, Kara, here you go! My boy:

We both noticed that we tend to photograph our girls more than our boys. And Kara’s boy is nine. Already. And nine’s not little anymore. My boy’s only 3. “Nearly four!” I can hear him call out in his sleep as I type. And three, nearly four, is not nearly so little as he used to be. And so we decided we both need to photograph our boys more. And Kara sent me an email that said “This weekend?” And I sent her an email that said “You’re on!” And so, here he is. My boy.

Would you just take a look at this family? Aren’t they beautiful? I know what you’re thinking, “She says that about all the families she photographs!” I guess perhaps I do. But honestly, go on. Have a look at these people. How could you possibly take a bad photo?

I haven’t done that many newborn shoots, and this is the first time I’ve actually had a sleeping baby. Properly asleep, I mean. Not just a little catnap that is disturbed at the first sound or touch. No, this little one slept pretty well for us. And the best thing about that? No, not the images you can get, but the fact that I got to hold her while she fell asleep! How nice is it to have a newborn in your arms?

This session was quite some time ago now, but I’ve been holding off on blogging these images until the birth announcements and thank you cards were all posted. (I didn’t want to spoil those by having already posted these images.) Here are just a few images from our session. I hope you like them! So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Miss A and her gorgeous family: